October 14, 2009

Moderately Mysterious

Moderate Party Chairwoman Christine Hunsinger confirmed last week that her organization was courting a “prominent former public official” aside from oft-discussed former Republican Attorney General Arlene Violet to represent her fledgling party.

How many "prominent" former officials are there in Rhode Island to choose from? I can think of three people off of the top of my head who have either run for or held statewide office that might described as “prominent former public officials”: Robert Weygand (former Lt. Governor, could fit the bill as a "moderate" Democrat, was occasionally mentioned as having gubernatorial aspirations very early in this cycle), Anthony Antonio Pires (who I think was less Progressive than either Sheldon Whitehouse or Myrth York, and thus ran 3rd in the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary) and Ron Machtley (former U.S. Congressman, could fit the bill as a "moderate" Republican, gave up his Congressional seat to run for governor in 1994).

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Are you being coy by not mentioning Linc? He is the perfect Moderate Party candidate. The man will need a party to win, otherwise if I was his opponent, I'd hammer him for not having a party. This is a man who has long been known for indecision and waffling. Now he can't even choose a party? That's who some people want to run this state? Take a stand Linc, pick a party. I'm guessing it'd be the Moderates. And it makes sense for them as it gives them instant credibility and probably the current leader in the polls.

Posted by: Patrick at October 14, 2009 1:19 PM

No, I'm not being coy. Chafee has told Edward Fitzpatrick that he's not running as a Moderate...

So I wondered: If the Moderate Party arises, will Chafee — a Republican-turned-independent who kind of/sort of announced last week that he’s running for governor — be leading the ticket? The short answer is: No.

On Thursday, Chafee said he did consider running as a member of the Moderate Party or of other third parties, such as the Libertarian, Green and Progressive parties. “But ultimately my fundraising team thought that it’s hard enough in this economy to raise money without getting complicated,” he said.

p.s. When I am being coy, it's usually really over-the-top and hard to miss. Posted by: Andrew at October 14, 2009 1:28 PM

"it’s hard enough in this economy to raise money without getting complicated"

If simply choosing a political party is "complicated", how the hell does he plan to run this state with the deficits and union requirements? Oh yeah, and all those rich people that we have not paying their fair share, that our friends at RIF keep telling us about.

Posted by: Patrick at October 14, 2009 2:53 PM

hmm.....

Interesting choices all, although there are other names missing from this list.

Hopefully we get a green light soon so we can dispense with the suspense.